International Business Machines Corporation

Qualcomm Incorporated

Gabriel Martel Tarr

Raymond Michael Higgs

Luke M Hopkins

Howard M Haynie

Clinton E Bubb

Michael Grassi

Kirk D Pospesel

Jeffrey Todd Bridges

Sanjay Bhikhubhai Patel

Carl Alan Waldspurger

Harold Wade Cain, Iii

Ryan Donovan Wells

Douglas James Joseph

Burt Lee Price

Yeshwant Nagaraj Kolla

Shivam Priyadarshi

Mushfiq U Saleheen

Derek Robert Hower

Steven George Aden

Shraddha Sridhar

Chih Kang Lin

SeyedMajid Zahedi

Walker B Carroll

Allocating power between multiple central processing units (CPUs) in a multi-CPU processor based on total current availability and individual CPU quality-of-service (QoS) requirements is disclosed. Current from a power rail is allocated to CPUs by a global current manger (GCM) circuit related to performance criteria set by CPUs. The CPUs can request increased current allocation from the GCM circuit, such as in response to executing a higher performance task. If the increased current allocation request keeps total current on the power rail within its maximum rail current limit, the GCM circuit approves the request to allow the CPU increased current allocation. This can allow CPUs executing higher performance tasks to have a larger current allocation than CPUs executing lower performance tasks without the maximum rail current limit being exceeded, and without having to necessarily lower voltage of the power rail, which could unnecessarily lower performance of all CPUs.

Allocating power between multiple central processing units (CPUs) in a multi-CPU processor based on total current availability and individual CPU quality-of-service (QoS) requirements

Technical solutions are described for a supervisory processor to pass an out-of-band communication to a target processor in a multiprocessor system. For example, a first processor in a multi-processor system includes a register configured to store a command from a second processor of the multi-processor system, and to store a response to the command from the second processor. The first processor determines that the second processor has issued the command for execution by the first processor based on a first portion of the register being set to a first state, which is a predetermined state. The first processor also, responsively, reads the command from the second processor by parsing a second portion of the register. The first processor includes executes the command and stores the response for the command in the register.

Remote command invocation using a register for storing a command and an attention bit indicating command has been issued

Adaptive voltage modulation circuits for adjusting supply voltage to reduce supply voltage droops and minimize power consumption are provided. In one aspect, an adaptive voltage modulation circuit detects a supply voltage droop by detecting when a supply voltage falls below a droop threshold voltage, and adjusts a clock signal provided to a load circuit in response to a supply voltage droop. The adaptive voltage modulation circuit keeps a count of the number of clock signal cycles during which the supply voltage is below the droop threshold voltage. The adaptive voltage modulation circuit increases the supply voltage in response to the count exceeding an upper threshold value, and decreases the supply voltage in response to the count being less than a lower threshold value at an end of a defined period. The adaptive voltage modulation circuit can reduce the time a load circuit operates with reduced frequency while minimizing power consumption.

Adaptive voltage modulation circuits for adjusting supply voltage to reduce supply voltage droops and minimize power consumption

A system for managing one or more queues in a multi-processor environment includes a shared memory configured to be accessed by a plurality of processing elements, and a queue manager configured to control a queue in the shared memory, the queue manager storing dynamically configurable queue parameters including an operation address associated with the queue, a number of queue elements and a size of each queue element. The queue manager is configured to intercept a message from a processing element, the message directed to the shared memory and specifying the operation address, calculate an address of a location in the shared memory corresponding to one or more available queue elements, the calculating performed based on the operation address, the number of queue elements, and the size of each queue element, and perform one or more queuing operations on the queue based on the calculated address.

Configurable hardware queue management and address translation

A system for managing one or more queues in a multi-processor environment includes a queue manager disposed in communication with a plurality of processors and a memory shared by the plurality of processors, and a queue configured to be controlled by the queue manager, the queue including independent and discrete queue elements and having a starting location specified by a base address, the queue manager having one or more dynamically configurable parameters, the one or more dynamically configurable parameters including a size of each of the queue elements. The queue manager is configured to perform receiving a message from a processor of the plurality of processors, the message including an operation address specifying a fixed storage location in the memory and a request related to accessing the memory, selecting the queue based on the operation address, and performing a queuing operation on the queue based on the request.

Configurable hardware queue management

Debugging microcode is facilitated by a hardware assist that takes over from the microcode the basic management of handling the data for a trace entry, thereby reducing the load on the microcode to a single micro-instruction per trace operation and thereby permitting more trace points to be included in the microcode shipped to the field.

System and method using hardware buffers for processing microcode trace data

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Durham, NC, United States of America

Gabriel Martel Tarr